There are some good schools in BKK where you can learn to speak, read and write Thai. For about 6000Bt per month you will go through a curriculum divided in 6 modules. 4 hours per day 5 days a week. You will study with dedicated and experienced teachers in a class of no more than 10 students (often less). After the 6 modules most of the students are able to write small stories, write under the dictation of the teacher, read prepared texts and chat with the teacher and the others students. The curriculum includes home work every day and exams at the end of each module. You will go to the next module only if your exams are satisfactory.
After completing 6 modules, you can continue and select modules about different subjets (ex: reading Thai news papers, Thai History etc). After a year most students can easily read the signs in the streets, shops, Skytrain, MRT, stickers on Thai products ( and foreign products when the English is hidden behind the Thai sticker) etc.
They also can write small notes to their maid, BF .... You also can pronounce every location name with the right tone, very usefull for taxi drivers. For example the new airport name sound very different when you can pronounce it after reading it in Thai scripts. Surely not a problem to go to the airport because every taxi driver will learn the farang way.
You will also be able to learn new words on your own and pronounce it the right way by looking in a Thai-English/English-Thai dictionnary for Thais without having to rely on the various not so perfect phonetic systems(which are for english speaker only, no a problem in your case though).
I don't know any student able to read the Thai news papers at a decent speed or understand more than 20% of what they read there. Yes you have to born here to be able to read the local news papers or be an extremely skilled student for years. The grammar is very confusing and does not follow the logic of western languages.
The spoken language is quite different and the grammar is easier to master. What you will learn at AUA is good for daily conversation but they don't teach the reading and the writting of Thai. If you decided to live in LOS, to be able to read a bit can make your life easier and you surely can impress your Thai and farang friends.
I can recommend UTL language school in Time Square on Sukumwit (BTS Asoke), ULS on Suriwong and TLA on Silom.
|